I had grand plans to make this pesto in mid-June, even offering to take scapes off the hands of fellow CSAers who might be befuddled by the strange scraggly curly creatures, but kept getting side-tracked by travel, life, an extravagant meal, and a friend visiting from Paris. All good things, but my small allotment of scapes sat lonely in the fridge, the ends slowly turning from their bright green to a sad pale yellow.

A “fleeting pleasure” according to Dorie with their short June season (we’re not really on a first name basis, but calling her Ms. Greenspan seems a bit formal…I hope she’ll forgive me this gaffe). Would their long sojourn in my vegetable crisper ruin their delicate flavor?

I put them on my counter, playing with their beautiful curves, snapping photos along the way, and these wiley creatures seemed to cry out to be used up, literally crawling into my mini-food processor.

Apparently, a scape can’t escape its destiny, and who am I to deny this little guy its inevitable future? So, scape pesto I made. With only 3 measly scapes, I cut Dorie’s recipe down appropriately, failed to use any measuring cups (par for the course in my book) and probably added too many almonds, liberally dousing the mix with a mild extra virgin (not that intense Unió because I wanted to let the scapes shine in all their glory).

The end result was light and fresh, though not as green as Dorie’s. Alas, those several weeks I so thoughtlessly squandered! Perched atop some perciatelli with lots of parmigiana, and then mixed in, the scapes seemed at home. Destiny delivered on a fork and a spoon.

9 Responses

Welcome home, Jess. The pun was just too easy, especially when I was using my scapes a month after their “expiration date.” (You should have heard some of my other title options!) Nonetheless, the pesto is good — I’ll just have to wait until next year for the real bright green deal. – Z

Mathilde – I guess I like to play with my food sometimes, despite what parents always tell their children. Glad to hear you enjoyed the story – I had fun with it.

Rachel – Thanks for stopping by. I can take little credit for finally using these scapes as I literally received them as part of my CSA share and the recipe came to me via twitter, but it is pretty cool to try to use up new parts of veggies. I have yet to figure out things like beet greens! By the way, I love the name of you blog — I sometimes find myself toting my laptop over to the kitchen, perching it precariously on an open drawer next to the stove. That’s sort of how I envision your kitchen!

Cookin’ Canuck – Glad you think my little guys are as pretty as I do with their curls. And they are pretty tasty – I just wish I had a few more. Oh well, there’s always next year!